At the end of 18 overs, Bangladesh A were 144/6 while India A had reached 174/4. But where Jitesh Sharma went to a part-time option in Naman Dhir for the 19th over that cost them 28 runs, Bangladesh threw the ball to their main man Ripon Mondal, who bowled a brilliant over of yorkers to concede just 5 runs. That alone should have been enough to decide the match, but Bangladesh had other ideas as the first semifinal of the Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament entered a scarcely believable endgame that witnessed a comedy of errors from both teams.
The match eventually ended in a Super Over, where neither team scored a run off the bat, and Bangladesh A prevailed to reach the final.
First of the errors came in the 20th over that Rakibul Hasan bowled. After getting hit for a six by Ashutosh Sharma, which made the equation 8 off 3, Rakibul fired one fuller. The Indian batter didn’t get the necessary elevation, and the ball went straight to Jishan Alam at long off. The fielder, however, made a mess of the catch, and the ball trickled behind him for a four. Rakibul dismissed Ashutosh off the next ball with a yorker, which brought Harsh Dubey to the middle with 4 needed off 1.
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Dubey hit the ball to long on and that should have been that. But the throw to the keeper was a bit wide and Dubey did the right thing by running for the second. Captain Akbar Ali made a blunder by not holding on to the ball, instead throwing it underarm and missing the stumps, and gave India the chance to steal a third run and force a tie.
Then bizarrely, India didn’t send Vaibhav Suryvanshi for the Super Over. Jitesh and Ramandeep Singh made it out, and the captain was out first ball, attempting a scoop to a yorker and missing the ball by a mile. Ashutosh was out next ball. With just one needed to win, Yasir Ali was out first ball thanks to a stunning catch by Ramandeep Singh but the match ended when Suyash Sharma bowled a wide.
Jitesh later explained the call to not send Vaibhav by reasoning that the think-tank thought it would be better to send out death over specialists. In a match defined by errors, perhaps that was the most critically fatal one.
“I will take all responsibility, as a senior, I should finish the game,” Jitesh said, adding that his wicket in the regulation run-chase was a turning point. For Akbar, it was relief as his blunder nearly cost his place a side in the final. “I knew the equation but I don’t know what happened in my mind and I threw the ball,” he said about his blunder. It explained why he just stood in a silent prayer after Suyash’s wide that sealed the deal.
Brief scores: Bangladesh A 194/6 (Habibur 65, Gurjapneet 2/39) beat India 194/6 (Priyansh 44, Ripon 1/35) after Super Over.
